

Teacher Talking Time
teachertalkingtime
Teacher Talking Time is a podcast for language teachers who want more: more clarity, more autonomy, and more lasting impact, both inside and outside the classroom.
Hosted by Leo and Andrew, each episode features thoughtful, in-depth conversations with the educators, researchers, and teacherpreneurs shaping the future of language education. Guests have included Scott Thornbury, Bill VanPatten, David Little, Jennifer Jenkins, John Levis, Angelica Galante, Sarah Mercer, Enrica Piccardo, Claudia Fernández, Shawn Loewen, Paul Nation, Sheila Thorn, and many more.
From the latest in second language acquisition research to honest stories of teachers building lives and businesses on their own terms, every conversation invites you to think deeper, teach more intentionally, and take charge of your professional path.
We release two episodes each month - with full video versions on YouTube - to help you reflect, stay inspired, and grow as a teacher and changemaker.
Subscribe, listen, and join a global community of educators leading with intention.
Hosted by Leo and Andrew, each episode features thoughtful, in-depth conversations with the educators, researchers, and teacherpreneurs shaping the future of language education. Guests have included Scott Thornbury, Bill VanPatten, David Little, Jennifer Jenkins, John Levis, Angelica Galante, Sarah Mercer, Enrica Piccardo, Claudia Fernández, Shawn Loewen, Paul Nation, Sheila Thorn, and many more.
From the latest in second language acquisition research to honest stories of teachers building lives and businesses on their own terms, every conversation invites you to think deeper, teach more intentionally, and take charge of your professional path.
We release two episodes each month - with full video versions on YouTube - to help you reflect, stay inspired, and grow as a teacher and changemaker.
Subscribe, listen, and join a global community of educators leading with intention.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Apr 19, 2021 • 45min
Corrective Feedback 4: Exploring the Discourse with Dr. Yucel Yilmaz
We're thrilled to announce our new partnership with Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, to produce an 8-part mini series on the topic of Corrective Feedback. The series explores the area of corrective feedback through interviews with 8 scholars in the field. All interviews are conducted by students in Dr. Eva Kartchava's MA class at Carleton University as a means of assessment to connect researchers to their audience and have her students generate a greater level of understanding and investment in the research from the course. If you are interested in having a similar series produced for your class or institute, you can contact us: info@learnyourenglish.com
This is episode 4 in our series, featuring Dr. Yucel Yilmaz. Dr. Yilmaz is a professor of Second Language Studies at Indiana University Bloomington. He teaches and researches several areas in second language acquisition, with a focus on how to offer effective (negative) feedback to language learners in both technology-mediated and in-person environments. He is also interested in the role of cognitive individual differences in the effectiveness of corrective feedback.
In this episode, Dr. Yilmaz discusses:
the interactionist approach
explicit correction versus recast
why direct feedback being more effective needs to be taken with a grain of salt
computer versus face-to-face mediated feedback
how to implement oral and written feedback
how teachers can learn about corrective feedback research and apply it to their own contexts
*This interview was conducted by Heather Shugart, Aria Rubinoff, and Fereshteh Khaffai Azar.
Partnership with Carleton University:
Throughout the series, MA students from Dr. Kartchava's class will interview leading experts in the field of corrective feedback. We thank Dr. Kartchava for joining this episode and for spearheading this initiative.
For more information on this episode, this project, and those involved:
view Carleton and Dr. Kartchava's website on Corrective Feedback
view the LYE blog post on this episode
More from Dr. Yilmaz:
Visit the Instructed SLA Lab at Indiana University
Visit his portfolio
As always, thank you for listening. Your support has been overwhelming and we couldn't do what we do without you. We hope this podcast serves as an effective CPD tool for you.
If you have a comment or question about today's show, we'd love to hear from you: info@learnyourenglish.com
For more on what we do at LYE:
Join Our Mailing List
Our Teacher Development Membership
Our Online CPD Courses for Teachers
Follow Learn YOUR English
Follow Teacher Talking Time

Apr 11, 2021 • 54min
The Cult of Learning 12: What are Habits and The Science Behind Them, Part III
Want to win a free subscription to habit tracking app Habitica?
1. Review Teacher Talking Time in Apple Podcasts or on Google
2. Send us a screenshot of your review via Instagram: @learnyourenglish
3. That's it!
Many thanks to our friends at Habitica for their help with today's episode. Definitely check them out if you're looking for cool ways to track your habits.
CULT/K^LT/A fashionable belief, idea, or attitude that influences people’s lives/The cult of learning encourages people to find and pursue what they are passionate about/
*”The Cult of Learning” are episodes for learners of languages. These episodes will discuss tools and strategies for learning and provide opportunities for effective listening practice. These episodes are also part of our Self-directed Learning Portal, which helps thousands of people around the world improve the English skills important to them.
Leo and Mike continue our mini series “What are Habits and the Science Behind Them.” In the third and final installment of this mini series, they discuss:
five benefits of habit tracking
what habits are worth tracking
how to respond when our habits and consistency breaks down
methods for tracking habits and actually being consistent with it
how to get a free subscription to tracking app Habitica!
If you are a learning a language, these episodes are for you!
Download the FREE Learn YOUR English Personalized Habit Tracker:
Click here or go to: learnyourenglish.net/podcast
Also, check out our blog post for more information on today's episode for more information.
Thank you for listening! If you have a comment or question about today's show, we'd love to hear from you: info@learnyourenglish.com
For more info on what we do at LYE, check out:
Our E-book for FREE on our website. We hope it helps you learn outside the classroom!
Our School of Learning for Teachers & Students - only $5/month
Our Website
Join our Mailing List
Follow Learn YOUR English
Follow Teacher Talking Time

Apr 4, 2021 • 60min
Corrective Feedback 3: Exploring the Discourse with Dr. Rebecca Adams
We're thrilled to announce our new partnership with Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, to produce an 8-part mini series on the topic of Corrective Feedback. The series explores the area of corrective feedback through interviews with 8 scholars in the field. All interviews are conducted by students in Dr. Eva Kartchava's MA class at Carleton University as a means of assessment to connect researchers to their audience and have her students generate a greater level of understanding and investment in the research from the course. If you are interested in having a similar series produced for your class or institute, you can contact us: info@learnyourenglish.com
Dr. Rebecca Adams joins us for episode 3. Dr. Adams is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Memphis, USA. She is an applied linguist with interests in instructed second language learning. Her research work focuses on peer communication in second language classrooms, peer corrective feedback in peer interaction and learning, second language task complexity in peer interactions, and focus on form.
In this episode, Dr. Adams highlights:
the benefits of peer feedback when compared to teacher-provided feedback
how to establish a conducive classroom environment for peer feedback to be most effective
types of corrective feedback and their effectiveness
whether students are actually hesitant to provide feedback to their peers
if teachers should wait for peer feedback to occur naturally or if providing students with training is beneficial
the connection between task-based language teaching and peer corrective feedback
*This interview was conducted by Marcel Zhang and Leo Liu.
Partnership with Carleton University:
Throughout the series, MA students from Dr. Kartchava's class will interview leading experts in the field of corrective feedback. We thank Dr. Kartchava for joining this episode and for spearheading this initiative.
For more information on this episode, this project, and those involved:
view Carleton University and Dr. Kartchava's website on Corrective Feedback
view the LYE blog post on this episode
For more on Dr. Adams:
See her website
Her book "Peer Interaction and Second Language Learning"
Her book "Teaching through Peer Interaction"
Are you a language teacher and interested in taking part in her new study on peer interaction? Click here.
Podcast Creation:
This episode was created with support from Thinkific & Podbean. If you're looking to launch a course or start a podcast, we highly recommend them - and use them ourselves.
As always, thank you for listening. Your support has been overwhelming and we couldn't do what we do without you. We hope this podcast serves as an effective CPD tool for you.
If you have a comment or question about today's show, we'd love to hear from you: info@learnyourenglish.com
For more info on what we do at LYE, check out:
Our Teacher Development Membership
Join Our Mailing List
Our Online CPD Courses for Teachers
Follow Learn YOUR English
Follow Teacher Talking Time

Mar 21, 2021 • 1h 4min
Corrective Feedback 2: Exploring the Discourse with Dr. Hossein Nassaji
We're thrilled to announce our new partnership with Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, to produce an 8-part mini series on the topic of Corrective Feedback. The series explores the area of corrective feedback through interviews with 8 scholars in the field. All interviews are conducted by students in Dr. Eva Kartchava's MA class at Carleton University as a means of assessment to connect researchers to their audience and have her students generate a greater level of understanding and investment in the research from the course. If you are interested in having a similar series produced for your class or institute, you can contact us: info@learnyourenglish.com
This is episode 2 in our series. In this episode, Dr. Hossein Nassaji joins the program to discuss corrective feedback. Dr. Hossein is an award-winning scholar and Professor of Applied Linguistics in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Victoria, Victoria, BC. He has authored over 100 articles and many books. His forthcoming handbook on corrective feedback, The Cambridge Handbook of Corrective Feedback in Second Language Learning and Teaching with Eva Kartchava, is a comprehensive volume that discusses current issues and perspectives on corrective feedback and their applications to second language teaching and learning.
Specifically in this episode, Dr. Nassaji tells us about:
the roles corrective feedback plays in language learning
how culture impacts feedback effectiveness
the debate between immediate and delayed feedback
written vs oral feedback and the efficacy of written feedback
the what, when, why, and if of explicit & implicit feedback
how teachers can learn about and implement corrective feedback in their classes
*This interview was conducted by Kelsey Ulrich-Verslycken and Lana Haj Hamid
Partnership with Carleton University:
Throughout the series, MA students from Dr. Kartchava's class will interview leading experts in the field of corrective feedback. We thank Dr. Kartchava for joining this episode and for spearheading this initiative.
For more information on this episode, this project, and those involved:
view Carleton and Dr. Kartchava's website on Corrective Feedback
view the LYE blog post on this episode
More from Dr. Nassaji:
His website
Some of his prominent books:
Corrective Feedback in Second Language Teaching and Learning: Research, Theory, Applications, Implication
The Interactional Feedback Dimension in Instructed Second Language Learning: Linking Theory, Research, and Practice
Teaching Grammar in Second Language Classrooms: Integrating Form-Focused Instruction in Communicative Context
The Cambridge Handbook of Corrective Feedback in Second Language Learning and Teaching
Podcast Creation:
This episode was created with support from Thinkific & Podbean. If you're looking to launch a course or start a podcast, we highly recommend them - and use them ourselves.
As always, thank you for listening. Your support has been overwhelming and we couldn't do what we do without you. We hope this podcast serves as an effective CPD tool for you.
If you have a comment or question about today's show, we'd love to hear from you: info@learnyourenglish.com
For more info on what we do at LYE, check out:
Our Teacher Development Membership
Join Our Mailing List
Our Online CPD Courses for Teachers
Follow Learn YOUR English
Follow Teacher Talking Time

Mar 8, 2021 • 36min
Corrective Feedback 1: Exploring the Discourse by Connecting Scholars & Teachers
We're thrilled to announce our new partnership with Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, to produce an 8-part mini series on the topic of Corrective Feedback. The series explores the area of corrective feedback through interviews with 8 scholars in the field. All interviews are conducted by students in Dr. Eva Kartchava's MA class at Carleton University as a means of assessment to connect researchers to their audience and have her students generate a greater level of understanding and investment in the research from the course. If you are interested in having a similar series produced for your class or institute, you can contact us: info@learnyourenglish.com
This is the introductory episode to our series on Corrective Feedback. Here, we invite Dr. Eva Kartchava - Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics and Discourse Studies in the School of Linguistics and Language Studies at Carleton University, Canada - and Dr. Hossein Nassaji - Professor of Applied Linguistics in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Victoria, Canada - to help kick off the series.
In this episode, Dr. Kartchava and Dr. Nassaji help elucidate many questions the series aims to answer, some of which are:
what is corrective feedback?
how do you give CF?
what is the purpose of CF?
how many different types of CF are there?
when should we provide CF?
Partnership with Carleton University:
Throughout the series, MA students from Dr. Kartchava's class will interview leading experts in the field of corrective feedback. We thank Dr. Kartchava for joining this episode and for spearheading this initiative.
For more information on this episode, this project, and those involved:
view Carleton and Dr. Kartchava's website on Corrective Feedback
view the LYE blog post on this episode
Podcast Creation:
This episode was created with support from Thinkific & Podbean. If you're looking to launch a course or start a podcast, we highly recommend them - and use them ourselves.
As always, thank you for listening. Your support has been overwhelming and we couldn't do what we do without you. We hope this podcast serves as an effective CPD tool for you.
If you have a comment or question about today's show, we'd love to hear from you: info@learnyourenglish.com
For more info on what we do at LYE, check out:
Our Teacher Development Membership
Join Our Mailing List
Our Online CPD Courses for Teachers
Follow Learn YOUR English
Follow Teacher Talking Time

Feb 27, 2021 • 47min
Cult of Learning 11: What are Habits and The Science Behind Them, Part II
/CULT/K^LT/A fashionable belief, idea, or attitude that influences people’s lives/The cult of learning encourages people to find and pursue what they are passionate about/
*”The Cult of Learning” are episodes for learners of languages. These episodes will discuss tools and strategies for learning and provide opportunities for effective listening practice. These episodes are also part of our Self-directed Learning Portal, which helps thousands of people around the world improve the English skills important to them.
Leo and Mike continue our mini series “What are Habits and the Science Behind Them.” In the second installment, they discuss:
how long it takes to adopt a new habit
the story behind that magic number & where it came from
if that number is real or fabricated
a study dedicated to discovering just how habits are formed
what we can learn from all of this
If you are a learning a language, these episodes are for you!
Also, check out our blog post for more information on today's episode for more information.
Thank you for listening! If you have a comment or question about today's show, we'd love to hear from you: info@learnyourenglish.com
For more info on what we do at LYE, check out:
Our E-book for FREE on our website. We hope it helps you learn outside the classroom!
Our School of Learning for Teachers & Students - only $5/month
Our Website
Join our Mailing List
Follow Learn YOUR English
Follow Teacher Talking Time

Feb 14, 2021 • 1h 45min
Episode 33: Scott Thornbury
Scott Thornbury joins Leo, Mike, and Andrew in studio.
Scott has taught and trained in Egypt, UK, Spain, and in his native New Zealand. Until recently he taught an online MA TESOL program for The New School in New York. His writing credits include several award-winning books for teachers on language and methodology. He is also the series editor for the Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers, and a trustee of the Hands Up Project, which promotes drama activities in English for children in under-resourced regions of the Arab world. At present, he is working for the Mosaik Foundation, training teachers of refugees in the Middle East in how to integrate communicative activities into their online classes.
We delve into Scott's career journey, and he discusses:
his career beginnings
his early influences and the "mother goose approach"
a paradigm shift away from drills and accuracy to a fluency-based, communicative approach
views on teacher development
his writing process and how nothing on the page in front of you is alright when there's a lot behind you
Dogme and Leo Van Lier's influence on him
For more on Scott Thornbury:
His website is www.scottthornbury.com
He tweets at @thornburyscott
His highly acclaimed blog https://scottthornbury.wordpress.com/
Mosaik Foundation
Hands Up Project
For more information on this episode, see our blog post about it.
Podcast Creation:
This episode was created with support from Thinkific & Podbean. If you're looking to launch a course or start a podcast, we highly recommend them - and use them ourselves.
As always, thank you for listening. Your support has been overwhelming and we couldn't do what we do without you. We hope this podcast serves as an effective CPD tool for you.
If you have a comment or question about today's show, we'd love to hear from you: info@learnyourenglish.com
For more info on what we do at LYE, check out:
Our Teacher Development Membership
Join Our Mailing List
Our Online Courses for Teachers
Our Sandbox of Lessons and Lesson Ideas
Follow Learn YOUR English
Follow Teacher Talking Time

Jan 31, 2021 • 46min
Cult of Learning 10: What are Habits and The Science Behind Them, Part I
/CULT/K^LT/A fashionable belief, idea, or attitude that influences people’s lives/The cult of learning encourages people to find and pursue what they are passionate about/
*”The Cult of Learning” are episodes for learners of languages. These episodes will discuss tools and strategies for learning and provide opportunities for effective listening practice. These episodes are also part of our Self-directed Learning Portal, which helps thousands of people around the world improve the English skills important to them.
In the first COL episode of 2021, Leo and Mike introduce our new mini series on habits called “What are Habits and the Science Behind Them.” In the first episode, they talk about maintaining good habits. Why are they so hard to start and seemingly impossible to keep? Our 3-part series will explore this, how it connects to learning, and much more.
In part one, Mike and Leo tackle:
why most people fail to create good habits
how long it takes to form a new habit
a technique you can use to stick to a good habit and how to track your habits effectively
If you are a learning a language, these episodes are for you!
Also, check out our blog post for more information on today's episode for more information.
Thank you for listening! If you have a comment or question about today's show, we'd love to hear from you: info@learnyourenglish.com
For more info on what we do at LYE, check out:
Download our E-book for FREE on our website. We hope it helps you learn outside the classroom!
Improve your English with our Self-directed Learning Portal - only $5/month
Our Website
Join our Mailing List
Follow Learn YOUR English
Follow Teacher Talking Time
Use our LYE Discount on your Next Creative Project. Get your First Month Free when you:
Start a Podcast with Podbean
Publish an Online Course with Thinkific

Jan 18, 2021 • 1h 47min
Episode 32: Two Years of Teacher Talking Time
To kick off 2021, Mike, Leo, and Andrew hold Teacher Talking Time’s first ever live episode to commemorate two years of podcasting with Learn YOUR English. They invite members of the LYE community to share their experiences with podcasts and, specifically, how they use them to develop as educators.
This episode was also broadcast live on the LYE Youtube channel, and in the first episode of 2021, they guys along with their guests discuss:
why and how Teacher Talking Time came to fruition
using podcasting as a tool for CPD
using podcasting as an asset for classroom assessment
Leo’s Master’s dissertation on podcasting in ELT
We also hear from some of our listeners on how they use podcasts for their development.
We also want to give a shoutout to other ELT Podcasts that inspire us. A lot of these influenced us in our careers and in the development of our show. Please check them out:
TEFLology
Tefl Training Institute
TEFL Commute
SLB Coop Podcast
Language Testing Bytes
For more information on this episode, see our blog post about it.
Podcast Creation:
This episode was created with support from Thinkific & Podbean. If you're looking to launch a course or start a podcast, we highly recommend them - and use them ourselves.
As always, thank you for listening. Your support has been overwhelming and we couldn't do what we do without you. We hope this podcast serves as an effective CPD tool for you.
If you have a comment or question about today's show, we'd love to hear from you: info@learnyourenglish.com
For more info on what we do at LYE, check out:
Our Memberships
Join Our Mailing List
Our Online Courses
Follow Learn YOUR English
Follow Teacher Talking Time

Dec 26, 2020 • 46min
Cult of Learning 9: Our Words of the Year for 2020
/CULT/K^LT/A fashionable belief, idea, or attitude that influences people’s lives/The cult of learning encourages people to find and pursue what they are passionate about/
*”The Cult of Learning” are episodes for learners of languages. These episodes will discuss tools and strategies for learning and provide opportunities for effective listening practice. These episodes are also part of our Self-directed Learning Portal, which helps thousands of people around the world improve the English skills important to them.
In the final Cult of Learning episode of 2020, Leo, Mike, and Andrew share their words of the year. From Zoom Fatigue to Cancel Culture to Social Distancing and Quarantine, our vocabularies grew enormously over the past 12 months.
What words were the most impactful this year? What relevance do they have? How did they come about?
The guys chat about this, reflect on living through a pandemic, and discuss how this year has taught us all a lot about learning.
If you are a learning a language, these episodes are for you!
Also, check out our blog post for more information on today's episode for more information.
Thank you for listening! If you have a comment or question about today's show, we'd love to hear from you: info@learnyourenglish.com
For more info on what we do at LYE, check out:
Download our E-book for FREE on our website. We hope it helps you learn outside the classroom!
Improve your English Skills with our Self-directed Learning Portal - only $5
Our Website
Join our Mailing List
Follow Learn YOUR English
Follow Teacher Talking Time
Use our LYE Discount on your Next Creative Project. Get your First Month Free when you:
Start a Podcast with Podbean
Publish an Online Course with Thinkific


